Political Dig

A Republican Just Made The Niger Controversy a Lot Worse For Trump

Former GOP lawmaker Jason Chaffetz baffled his own party on Sunday after he called for a ‘Benghazi-style’ investigation into an ambush in Niger that left four American soldiers dead — an attack President Trump has barely acknowledged since it happened.

Now, with Congressional outrage growing over the lack of information forthcoming from the Trump Administration about the deadly attack, the former Utah Republican Congressman and former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has weighed in on the issue on Twitter.

“Congress investigated Benghazi and Extortion 17. Congress should also investigate the deadly attack in Niger,” Chaffetz wrote on Twitter.

Congress investigated Benghazi and Extortion 17. Congress should also investigate the deadly attack in Niger. #Truth

Chaffetz’s tweet stunned Republicans who are trying hard to contain the scandal. If someone like Chafetz is calling for an investigation into one of the first major military scandals of the Trump era, you know that sentiment is turning and that the president is losing the trust of even his own party.

Hopefully, if an investigation is launched, it will prove more fruitful and less of a massive waste of taxpayer dollars than the multiple probes into the Benghazi incident which dragged on for years as a Republican attempt to harm the political prospects of Hillary Clinton and the reputation of President Obama and resulted in no findings of significance.

Trump came under fire after he acknowledged he hadn’t spoken to the families of the fallen soldiers because of the “lack of time.”

He also falsely claimed former President Barack Obama and other former commanders-in-chief did not call the relatives of slain soldiers.

This is not the first time Trump finds himself in the middle of a scandal that raises questions about his fitness to be commander-in-chief. The mystery surrounding the Niger attack recalls the disputed details about a Trump-approved Yemen raid in January that ended with the death of Navy SEAL William (Ryan) Owens, the first soldier killed during the Trump administration.

At the time, Trump insisted the mission was properly planned and led to the discovery of crucial intelligence from an Al Qaeda compound.

But multiple media reports suggested the raid, which was initially planned under Obama, was carried out without proper intelligence and lacked sufficient backup and group support, and only led soldiers to terrorist training materials that had been known for years.